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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-03-14 PUBLIC SAFETY, CODE ENFORCEMENT & NEIGHBORHOOD EMPOWERMENT CITY OF SANTA ANA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY, CODE ENFORCEMENT & NEIGHBORHOOD EMPOWERMENT MINUTES March 14, 2017 CALL TO ORDER: Ross Annex, Room 1600 City Hall, 20 Civic Center Drive Santa Ana, California 5:30 PM ATTENDANCE: Council Committee members: Jose Solorio Juan Villegas MEMBERS ABSENT: Sal Tinajero STAFF PRESENT: Gerardo Mouet, CMO David Valentin, PD Carlos Rojas, PD Ruben Ibarra, PD Dave Anderson, OCFA Michael Gonzalez, PD Tamara Bogosian, CAO Robert Carroll, PD Robert Cortez, CMO Hassan Haghani, PBA James Schnabl, PD Candida Neal, PBA Yessenia Aspeitia, PD Eileen F. Greene, Recording Secretary PUBLIC SPEAKERS: Chris Schmidt, resident, Windsor Neighborhood Assoc. Peter Katz, President, Com-Link Ed Murashe, resident Melahat Rafiei, Principal, Progressive Solutions Consulting Mike Tardiff, resident Susan Vanderoos, resident, Washington Square Neighborhood PUBLIC COMMENTS Chris Schmidt, resident Windsor Neighborhood Association, happy the name of Committee has changed to focus on neighborhoods. Mr. Schmidt remarked that the quality of life has gone down in his neighborhood due to parking issues and other activities. His neighborhood is not zoned for commercial activity. Mr. Schmidt suggests having Code Enforcement officers working on alternate weekends. A public comment on Item 3 (Proposed Meeting Schedule) was made by unknown resident who questioned having only four meetings a year. Chairman Solorio and Vice Chairman Villegas both stated that special meetings would be considered throughout the year, depending on items raised. Peter Katz, President of Corn-Link comments on Item 6, Homelessness. He is continually getting complaints from all 64 homeowner associations regarding the public safety in this city. The civic center, the riverbed, the Downtown businesses and neighborhoods are all being affected; property values going down. Asking this Committee to request County Supervisor Do and Homeless Czar Susan Price come to City Council because they need to be held accountable. Ed Murashe, Floral Park Association, comments on Item 9 (Measure BB). He brings up three issues: homeless issue in the creek bed, traffic issues, and the dispensaries. He would like to see the fine raised for businesses being a public nuisance so it targets the dispensaries. Floral Park is having their home tour coming up on March 29-30`h. Melahat Rafiei representative of the Santa Ana Cannabis Association, makes a public comment on Item 9 (Measure BB). Her Association represents the permitted dispensaries in the city. They want to continue working with law enforcement and the City to abide by the law and regulations of the ordinance. They are asking for some operational changes to the ordinance. She is very pleased that there is open communication with City staff and City leaders and policymakers on this issue. Mike Tardiff, resident, comments on Item 10 (Second Dwelling Ordinance). He would like the City to have its own ordinance rather than going by State law as it pertains to granny flats. Santa Ana needs to develop a more restrictive ordinance than the State. New updated State law provides for wiggle room for cities to formulate an ordinance to fit their individual needs. Peter Katz, President of Com-Link, comments on Item 10 (Second Dwelling Ordinance). Mr. Katz supports an additional City ordinance because Santa Ana is a very dense city, parking is already an issue, and the State law would cause problems between neighbors. A parking commission could administratively deal with parking issues and suggested a slumlord task force. Public Comment by Susan Vanderoos, resident, Washington Square neighborhood, addresses item No. 10. The ordinance allows for some response by the City. She questions protection for Santa Ana citizens and is concerned because granny flat can go up to 1200 sq. feet in someone's backyard. Property values have gone down. AGENDA ITEMS 1. Elect Chair and Vice Chair First Motion: Elect Juan Villegas as Committee Vice Chair. MOTION: Solorio SECOND: Villegas VOTE: AYES: Villegas, Solorio NOES: None (0) ABSENT: Tinajero Motion carries. Second Motion: Elect Jose Solorio as Committee Chair. MOTION: Villegas SECOND: Solorio VOTE: AYES: Solorio, Villegas NOES: None (0) ABSENT: Tinajero Motion carries. 2. Review By-Laws A discussion of the committee by-laws was held. Chairman Solorio states that the City Council modified the name of the Committee and City Attorney Bogosian asked for a revision on Article V, Section A to reflect the meeting place. Changes will be made by the City Attorney's Office. A motion is made to approve the By-Laws with the changes suggested. MOTION: Solorio SECOND: Villegas VOTE: AYES: Solorio, Villegas NOES: None (0) ABSENT: Tinajero Motion carries. 3. Review and Approve Proposed Meeting Schedule for this Committee Chief Rojas provides two options for the meeting schedule for this Committee: Option 1 would fall on the 2°a Tuesday of every other month; Option 2 would fall on the 4th Tuesday of every other month. The meetings proposed were for the remainder of calendar year 2017 and did not include tonight's meeting. A motion is made to approve Option No. 1. MOTION: Solorio SECOND: Villegas VOTE: AYES: Solorio, Villegas NOES: None (0) ABSENT: Tinajero Motion carries. 4. Approval of Minutes of the 11-22-16 Meeting Chairman Solorio postpones this item until the next meeting when Committee member Tinajero returns. 5. Police Officer Hiring and Review Hiring Process (Update)—Deputy Chief Schnabl and Police Admin.Manager Robert Carroll [Strategic Plan Goal No. 1, 1} Police Admin. Manager Robert Carroll briefed the Committee with a power point presentation updating police officer recruitment and reviewing the hiring process. Information on vacancies, sworn positions added since FY 2014/15, and officers hired/separated from 2014-2016 was provided. Manager Carroll discussed the Sensis marketing campaign which was approved by the City Council in June, 2016, and will launch in March, 2017. ACTION: Chairman Solorio: Acting City Manager Mouet, Police Chief Rojas, and the Sensis marketing firm develop a goal for how many individuals the Police Department wants to hire this year. Although the goal with Sensis was 65 from April, 2017 to April, 2018, convert that into a calendar year goal. Also determine how many officers will be retiring after 50 so forecasting between hiring and separations can be done. 6. Homelessness Crisis (Discuss possible recommendations regarding public safety and public health issues.) —Deputy Chief Valentin and Commander Ibarra {Strategic Plan Goal No. 5, 3d} Commander Ruben Ibarra directed attention to the homelessness crisis and how it affects visitors, businesses, community, homeless, and anyone in the city of Santa Ana. He discussed the safe sleep program at the Courtyard and the H.E.A.R.T. Program (Homeless Evaluation Assessment Response Team) which continues to focus on providing services and resources to the homeless population, with an emphasis on mental health training. The Police Department works with Public Works and Community Development agencies on clean-up. ACTION: Vice Chair Villegas: Staff provide to this Committee information on how many sex offenders are living in the Civic Center. ACTION: Chairman Solorio: City has declared this a public health crisis and some specific recommendations came out of that declaration. Chairman Solorio would like to see a combination of this presentation and these comments combined with the recommendations and the outcomes from that initial hearing at the Council level. Bring this issue back to a City Council meeting to report back on the progress being made as well as to take additional comments and recommendations. Staff figure out how to allocate the $300,000 be expended this fiscal year to address the homeless crisis. Chairman Solorio: when the homelessness issue is brought back to City Council, invite Supervisor Andrew Do and Homeless Czar Susan Price, and the Orange County Employees' Association. Chairman Solorio: want more information and open data shared on the Police Department's website. Police Department staff work with IT to move forward with these initiatives. Chairman Solorio directs Acting City Manager Mouet to set up a follow-up meeting with the City Attorney, the Police Chief, Councilmember Villegas and himself to set up some legal angles to minimize the homelessness issue. Vice Chair Villegas: requests that Staff provide how many calls for service at the Courtyard and who responds. He wants it on record that Mayor Pulido was right when he said that he didn't want to create the service center in that location because it would bring a lot of people from outside. Chairman Solorio: before the next Committee meeting, he wants to coordinate with Acting City Manager Mouet to see when we might have a presentation to the full Council on the overall status of prior recommendations, thoughts and ideas that came out of this meeting. (Item 9 was taken out of order.) 9. Update and Possible Options Regarding Implementation of Measure BB — Deputy City Manager Robert Cortez {Strategic Plan Goal No. 1, 1 c} Deputy City Manager Robert Cortez delivered a power point presentation regarding a Measure BB update and options going forward for the City. Manager Cortez briefs the Committee on the history of Measure BB, when it received voter approval which made Santa Ana the first city in Orange County to implement a medical marijuana program. A lottery was conducted and allows 20 permitted dispensaries. City Council approved a Medical Marijuana Task Force for enforcement efforts. Manager Cortez explained adjustments that are being considered to the Measure BB Ordinance, as well as options that require policy level consideration. Manager Cortez provided highlights of industry priorities. ACTION: Chairman Solorio requests that this item be put on the Agenda on a regular basis. Encourage regular scheduling and participating in the roundtable discussion with industry members to work closely with stakeholders. Vice Chair Villegas: have staff look into hiring more code enforcement officers. Villegas wants it on the record, look into hiring more full time people to work on these dispensaries. Agrees that there is a medical need,but the City needs to be responsible. 7. Police Officer Body Cameras (Project update regarding the implementation timeline.) — Sergeant Michael Gonzalez {Strategic Plan Goal No. 1, 1f and 3b} Sergeant Mike Gonzalez provides an update on the body worn camera program. Sgt. Gonzalez briefly touches on the RFP process, the vendor who has been chosen, and a pilot program initiated in the Fall of 2016. He explains the Body Worn Camera plan of action and milestones as it pertains to the training and implementation timeline. In addition, Sgt. Gonzalez provides video footage of a body camera used by officers in Civic Center, and by gang detectives during a vehicle search. 8. Integrated Software (Vendor: Tri Tech) —Deputy Chief Jim Schnabl and Police Systems Manager Boris Duran {Strategic Plan Goal No. 1, 2a} Deputy Chief Schnabl reviews a presentation given to the Public Safety Committee several years ago which outlined problems the Police Department was facing regarding future growth and use of technology. Deputy Chief Schnabl gives an overview of systems purchased back in the late 80's/early 90's which can no longer operate efficiently. Tri-Tech is the vendor of the new Integrated Software, and the Department is focusing on the Records Management System with a go-live date of November, 2017. The integrated software will allow better communication between systems, move toward a paperless workflow, eliminate redundant data entry, is a cost- savings and will provide more effective law enforcement to the community. ACTION: Chairman Solorio: wants Police staff to think about implementing an e-mail or text message assigned to the person handling non-emergency calls in Communications. An e-mail can be documented and have some clarity about what is being asked for. 10. Implementation of State Second Dwelling Unit Ordinance — Acton: Request direction on whether to continue to implement State ordinance or adopt City standards — Executive Director Hassan Haghani/Planning Manager Candida Neal {Strategic Plan No. 5, 3} Executive Director of Planning and Building Agency Hassan Haghani gives an oral report regarding granny flats and the new State law enacted on January 1st. Prior to that action, Planning Manager Candida Neal, along with staff and the City's Attorney's Office created a draft ordinance that completely complied with State law. Many people were opposed to it, yet others wanted us to put rent control on these units. Public requirements on two far ends and staff being so busy re-writing granny flats ordinance and zoning issues, it was decided to simply implement the State ordinance as is until such time that the City Council gives direction. Implement the State law and use City language as a guideline. ACTION: Chairman Solorio: Staff will forward the State law, as well as the draft ordinance, to this Committee for review. A dialogue then continues regarding this item. City Attorney Bogosian: Mr. Chairman, the action was to request direction on whether to continue to implement the State Ordinance or adopt City standards so are the Committee members tabling this action item for the next meeting? Chairman Solorio responds that the Committee is not prepared today to say there are findings to support specific criteria stating there is a current threat to health and safety with the granny flats. Chairman Solorio directs Staff to review and consider that as a potential option. If there is in fact some leeway in saying that findings may merit a moratorium, there is time to do additional research to fine tune an existing ordinance. Today we are not making a formal recommendation but I do expect the Acting City Manager, the City Attorney's Office and Planning & Building to look at what might be necessary for a moratorium and what time is needed to do the studies. City Attorney Bogosian: the recommendation to the City Attorney's Office is to table this item to the Agenda on May 9t and the City will continue to implement the State law. Recommendation: Chairman Solorio suggests a city-wide parking needs assessment and parking management plan, perhaps by an outside contractor. Villegas agrees that the City hire someone whose sole job is to analyze the parking for the entire city and if a permit parking area can be implemented. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS Vice Chair Villegas remarked that he was glad to have the meeting early rather than later. He said that there are a lot of items to tackle and there may be additional meetings other than the scheduled ones. Chairman Solorio thanks the Chief, Acting City Manager, those who put together the presentations, attendees and neighborhood leaders. Encourage the activity here and at regular City Council meetings. Chairman Solorio asked if anyone has any suggestions for future Agenda items, to e-mail them to the Committee. He said that it was an honor for Councilmember Villegas and me to be part of the first Public Safety, Code Enforcement and Neighborhood Empowerment Council Committee Meeting. FUTURE ITEMS Graffiti Program—cost, schedule, issues with the City's graffiti removal program Crime stats data on the Police Depaitment's website Status of Hiring in the Police Depanlnlent Homelessness Crisis Implementation of Measure BB Update on My Santa Ana app Discuss Crime Prevention program Non-emergency text or e-mail feature Parking Needs Assessment/Parking Management Plan Citywide ADJOURNMENT—8:30 P.M. 9PN7PAJZ) CARLOSROJAS Chief of Police